Modifying Data Connections

[dchman]

I am new to Infopath and Sharepoint and am trying to understand data
connections. The sharepoint site I am working with uses a bunch of infopath
forms and the original developer is not available. Occasionally I have to
update the data connections in a form, and have a couple of questions;
1. In the Data Source Pane, I assume that for each data connection there is
a corresponding entry in the Data Source drop-down list. If I examine the
data source, can I assume that the columns listed are those selected when the
associated data connection was created?

2. When modifying a data connection, after entering the URL and selecting
the Sharepoint List, I am presented with a list of fields to select. Many of
them are selected by default. Sometimes the previous developer left notes on
which fields should be selected, but often that is not the case. If my
assumption in question 1 above is correct, do I just select those listed in
the original data source?

3. Is there a way to determine if the data from a data connection is
actually used in the form? In some of the forms I am maintaining, I suspect
that some of the data connections are not being used, so I would like to
delete them.

thanks

 

[Greg Collins]

1. Yes, data connections have a corresponding Data Source task pane. Yes,
the schema in the data source is the selected columns in the SharePoint
view.

2. Yes, you can select the same columns as are named in the data source.

3. It requires digging through the source files of the template, and
possibly the code. The main files you'd be interested in are the
manifest.xsf, view .xsl files, and code file.

 

[Frederik Van Lierde]

Please read the following article:Best Practices for Deploying
InfoPath 2007 Form Templates to a Production Environment
This will explain a lot about Data Connections.

http://blueinfopath.blogspot.com/2008/09/best-practices-for-deploying-infopath.html

Frederik Van Lierde
http://www.SilverSandsAssociates.com
http://BlueInfoPath.blogspot.com